Car haul



C. BURKITT CAR HAUL April 24, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 27, 1953mx w a a C. BURKITT CAR HAUL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 27, 1953Illnsl@ @ie elaul- .III Mwvwlmml Il f MN Nw: WN 1 mw .I I A w CAR HAULCarl Burkitt, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Link-Belt Company, acorporation of Illinois Application March 27, 1953, Serial No. 344,94712 Claims. (Cl. 1134-172) This invention in car haul more particularlywith the downgrade advancement of such trips.

Where such a procedure 1s not practical, it has been necessary toinstall separate car hauls for moving the trips-of cars upgrade anddowngrade.

It is `the primary object of this invention to provide a engaging andmoving trips of ycars in either direction along an inclined tracksection.

movement. f

Another important object of the invention is to provide a car haul witha device for maintaining the proper Spacproperly engaged pusher dogs ofthe haul to prevent overrunning of the haul by the cars.

A still further important object providea car haul which is capablevofproperly engaging haulv as the haul isA further advanced, f

Figure'is a similar view to Figs. 1 and 2 but showing the positionsassumed by the cars and the pusher dogs after the retarding device hasbeen released,

' -Figure 4 is a similar view to Figs.`1, Zand 3 but showlng-fthelpositions of the cars andlpusher dogs'just prior g United StatesPatent() retarding dog and Y. tions, y the pusher dogs 21 of each2,742,863 Patented Apt-24, 1956 In the drawings, wherein for the purposeof illustra` tion is shown a preferred embodiment of this invention, andrst ets 17 is drivenk either intermittently or continuouslyl by areversible motor 19 `which is drivingly connected to the sprocket by abelt 19a, or the like.

At uniformly spaced their car engaging active run of the chain. While intheir car engagingposithe said control device. v f The dashpot unitincludes a cylinder 243 having its axis in parallel relationship withthe rails 11.

from. I ositiprtedA between the piston 2S and the outer end `wall of thecylinder 24 is a stop collar 28. The inner end portion of the cylinder24 is provided with two longitudinally spaced, side wall apertures 29and 3.1 while a third aperture 32 extends through the side wall into theclearance space provided by the stop collar 28. The piston 25,therefore, is movable inV oppositeA directions between a positionabutting the stop collar 2,8` and a position adjacent the aperture 29.

The apertures 29 and 32 are connected to the opposite ends of a pair ofparallel branch pipes 33 and 34. Mounted in the branch pipe 33V is anadjustable orifice valve 35 for controlling the rate of ow of fluidthrough this pipe. Branch pipe 34, is provided with a check valve 36 forpermitting only unidirectional flow of uid from the aperture 32 towardthe apertures 29 and 31. The branch pipe 34 also is connected to theaperture 31 to thereby permit the free flow of iluid between theapertures 29 and 31.

Connected to the operating rod 26 by a cable 37 is a counterweight 38which is suspended from the pulley 39 to urge the piston 25 toward itsstop collar 28. Mounted in the outer end portion of the operating rod 27is a turn buckle 40 by means of which the length of this operating rodmay be adjusted.

The outer end of the rod 27 is pivotally connected to a control device,as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. The control device consists of acarriage 41 formed of a pair of tranversely spaced side bars 41a thatare connected by a pair of longitudinally spaced axes 42 upon which aremounted wheels or rollers 43 and a retarding dog 44 that is pivotallymounted between the side bars 41a. The retarding dog 44 isgravitationally actuated for movement toa normal position at which thedog is held against further pivotal movement in a backward direction byits engagement with one of the axles 42.

The carriage 41 is supported by a guideway formed of a pair ofoppositely arranged, inwardly opening channel beams 45 mounted onbrackets 46. The channels 45 extend in parallel relationship with therails 11 to support the carriage 41 for movement with the cars A, B, Cand D for a distance that corresponds with` the travel of the piston 25between its stop collar 28 and a position just beyond the aperture 31.The channels 45 thereafter are inclined downwardly in angularrelationship with the rails 11 to effect pivotal movement of thecarriage 41, relative to the rod 27, as the piston 25 is moved theremainder of its distance of travel through the cylinder 24. Theretarding dog 24 thereby is caused to move downwardly a sufficientdistance to clear the lugs 23 on the cars. It will be readily apparentthat the lugs 23 of the cars moving in an upgrade direction will merelyeffect pivotal movement of the retarding dogs 24 and will have no elfecton the position of the carriage 41.

Operation of the car haul in eiecting movement of a trip of carsdowngrade will be described as follows:

First referring to the disclosure provided by Fig. 4, it will be assumedthat the car haul has been stopped with one of its pairs of pusher dogs21 positioned in the upper run of the chain 16 at a location which is nofurther advanced to the right than is illustrated in this ligue. When soarranged, the next succeeding pair of pusher dogs will be positionedbelow the path of movement of the car` lugs 23.

In assuming this starting position, the first two cars of the trip haveadvanced by gravity down the rails 11 and their lugs 23 havesuccessively engaged and actuated the retarding device. That is to say,the lugs 23 of the cars A and B have successively engaged the retardingdog 44 of the carriage 41 and have advanced the carriage a suicientdistance along its channel beams 45 to permit the lugs to clear the dog44. The lug 23 of the car A is illustrated as engaging the contact face22 of its leading dog 21. Because the car haul is not being driven bythe motor 19, this engagement of the lug 23 of car A will cause the haulto hold thc entire trip of carsv with their tongues 14 in abuttingengagement. It will be noted that the lug 23 of car B is clear of bothof its pusher dogs 21 while the lug 23 of car C is substantially spacedfrom the retarding dog 44.

Fig. 1 is intended to illustrate the relative positions of the variouscooperating elements after the car haul has been placed in operation andthe cars A, B and C have advanced to the illustrated positions. Whenthus arranged, the lug 23 of car A is still engaging the contact face ofits associated, leadingl pusher dog 21, while the lug 23 of car B isoverlying theleading pusher dog of its associated pair, and the lug 23of car C has just engaged the retarding dog 44. Up to this point, theengagement of the lug 23 of car A with its associated leading pusher dog21 has held he entire trip of cars from advancing at too rapid a ratedown the rails 11.

Fig. 2 illustrates the relative positions of the various cooperatingelements after the chain 16 of the car haul has advanced a suiicientdistance to position the second pair of pusher dogs in its upper run.The retarding device has functioned, due to the engagement of its dog 44with the lug 23 of car C, to restrain the forwardmovement of cars A, Band C suiciently to cause the tongues 14 of these cars to be separatedand the lug 23 of car A to engage the trailing pusher dog 21, of itsassociated pair while the lug 23 of car Bis caused to enter the spacebetween its associated pusher dogs 21. In other words, the car haul hasbeen functioning to advance cars A, B

and C against the retarding force exerted by the dog 44` and itsassociated mechanism. It, further, will be noted that the carriage 41 ofthe retarding mechanism has just started to move down the inclinedportions of its supporting beams `45 with the result that furthermovement of the cars A, B and C by the haul will cause the lug 23 of carC to be moved out of engagement with the retarding dog 44.

Fig. 3 illustrates the positions assumed by cars A, B and C after lug23, not shown, of car C has advanced beyond the retarding dog 44. Itwill be noted that cars A and B have coasted down the rails 11 asuicient distance to cause the lug 23 of car B to contact the leadingpusher dog 21 of its associated pair, while the lug 23 of car A hasmoved out of contact with the trailing pusher. dog 21 of its associatedpair. The leading pusher dog 21 associated with car B now is retardingall of the cars of the trip. Cars B, C and D will assume the positionsoccupied by cars AB and C in the illustrations afforded by Figs. l and2.

After the lug 23 of each car has advancedout of engagement with theretarding dog 44, the counterweight 38 will function to move the piston25 from right to left` through its cylinder 24 until the piston 25 againengages the stop collar 28. This movement of the piston 25 will causethe carriage 41 to be returned to the position, illustrated in Fig. 1where the retarding dog 44 will be` in readiness to engage the lug 23 ofcar D.

The operation of the retarding mechanism to restrain the advance of eachsuccessive car of the trip will now be.

described. Y

The normalv starting positions of the dog 44 and carriage 41 areillustrated in Figs. 1 and 4. The carriage is urged into this positionby the action of the counterweight` 38. When one of the car lugs 23 ismoved into engagement with the dog 44, however, the dog and carriagewill be moved along the guideway formed by the channels 45 in adirection away from the cylinder 24. This movement,

of the carriage 41 acting through the operating rody27 will movethepistonZS away from its stop collar 28l and will force the uid inthecylinder 24 at the right of the-t` piston 25 to ow .through theapertures.l and 31, the branch pipe 33, he restricted orifice valve 35andthe aperture 32 into the opposite end ofthe cylinder attire;

efr-raises left of the piston 25. Due to the restriction provided by thevalve 35, the rate of ow of the fluid is reduced suciently to causethe'movement of the piston 25 to be retarded to the desired extent. Itwill be appreciated that the check valve 36 will prevent How of iluidthrough the branch pipe 34 to the aperture 32.

When the piston 25 has been moved, by the force applied by the lug 23 tothe retarding dog 44, to a position at which the aperture 31 is on theopposite side of the piston from the aperture 29, the carriage 41 alsowill have moved to the inclined portion of the guideway formed by thechannels 45. At this time, the tluid owing from the cylinder 24 throughthe aperture 29 is bypassed to the opposite side of the piston throughthe aperture 31 so that the retarding elfect of the valve 35 iseliminated andV the carriage 41 will move easily and quickly down theinclined portion of the channels 45 to release the retarding dog 44 fromthe lug 23, as illustrated in the broken-line position of Fig. 6.

After the Vretarding dog 44 is released from the lug 23, the carriage 41will be quickly returned to its starting position by the counterweight38 connected by the cable 37 to the operating rod 26. The movement ofthe piston ,to the left in its cylinder is unretarded due to the free-ow of fluid through the aperture 32, the check valve 36 and the pipe 34into the opposite end portion of the cylinder through both of theapertures '29 and 31.

Adjustment of the carriage 41 relative to the operating rod 27 by theturn buckle 40 will provide accurate spacing between the piston and theinclined portion of the channels 45 to provide the above describedoperation decrease the retarding action of the dog 44.

It will be readily apparent that the retarding dog 44 will have no electupon the cars of a trip that is moved up the mcllned track and that sucha trip Will be stretched by gravitational pull to provide proper spacingbetween the lugs 23 of adjacent cars so that they will register with thepusher dogs 21.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention herewith shownand described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, andthat various changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit ofthe invention or thescope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In mechanism for controlling the advance down an inclined tracksection of a trip of cars loosely coupled together and each car having acontrol projection, an endless chain haul having its active run drivenin the same direction as and in parallel relationship with the trip, aplurality of control devices attached to the chain haul at intervalswhich are spaced to operatively register with the control projections onadjacent cars of the trip when the cars are spaced the maximum distancepermitted by their couplings, each of said control devices engaging itscar control projection upon registering therewith to alternatelyrestrain the coasting of the trip down the track section and apply aforce to advance the trip down said track section, and a retardingmechanism positioned upgrade from the car haul for applying a retardingforce to an adjacently positioned car of the trip each time a controldevice of the haul applies an advancing force to the trip to therebyspace to the maximum distance the cars entering the haul so as toel'lect the registering of each car haul control device with the controlprojection of its respective car.

2. A mechanism as dened in claim l further characterized by saidretarding mechanism having a reciprocatory control device forsuccessively engaging the control projections on the cars of the trip toapply said retarding force.

3. A mechanism as defined in claim 2 further characterized by theretarding mechanism including a one-way terized by the reciprocatorycontrol device including a wheeled carriage, a dog pivoted on thecarriage for enreciprocatory movements.

5. A mechanism as dened in claim 4 further characterized by a one-wayacting dashpot unit for retarding 6. A mechanism as dened in claim 4further characterized by the guiding means for the wheeled carriage 7. Amechanism as defined in claim 6 further characterized by a one-wayacting dashpot unit for retarding the opposite end portions of saidcylinder, an adjustable orifice valve controlling the rate of flow of udthrough one of said ilo'w paths to retard the rate of movement of thereciprocatory control device in one direction, and a one-way actingcheck valve in the other of said tiow 9. In a mechanism for controllingthe advance down an inclined track section of a trip of cars looselycoupled together and each having a control lug, an endless chain haulhaving its active run driven in the same direction as and in parallelrelationship with the trip, a plurality of pairs of dogs, having spacedcontact faces, attached to the chain haul at intervals which are spacedto cause the contact faces to operatively register with the lugs Ofadjacent cars when the cars are spaced the maximum distance permitted bytheir couplings, said contact faces alternately engaging theirassociated lug to restrain coasting of and to advance the trip down thetrack section, and a re 10. A mechanism as defined in claim 9 furthercharacterized by said retarding dog having a guideway with a majorportion of its length in parallel relationship with said track tosupport the dog for movement by the lug and with it's inner end portioninclined away from said track to guide the dog into a position forrelease from said lug, and a uicl containing cylinder having a pistontherein connected to the dog for movement therewith against the pressureof the uid in the cylinder to retard movement of the dog by the lug.

1l. A mechanism as defined in claim 9 further characterized by acylinder, a piston movable in said cylinder to inversely vary thevolumes of the chambers on opposite sides of the piston, a pipeproviding restricted communication between the chambers, a second pipeproviding open communication between said chambers, a valve associatedwith said second pipe for preventing ow from one of the chambers to theother through the second pipe, and a rod extending from said piston forconnection to the dog to cause movement of the latter by the lug toreduce the volume of said one chamber, said movement of the dog by thelug being retarded by the restricted ow of uid from said one chamber tothe other through the rst mentioned pipe and return of the dog to itsnormal position being facilitated by free flow of fluid through saidsecond pipe.

l2. In mechanism for conrolling the advance down an inclined tracksection of a trip of cars loosely coupled together and each havingoppositely directed control faces, an endless chain haul having itsactive run driven in the same direction as and in parallel relationshipwith Cil said trip, a plurality of pairs of dogs, having spaced contactfaces, attached to the chain haul` at intervals which are spaced t'ocause the contact faces to operatively register with the control facesof adjacent cars when the cars are spaced the maximum distance permittedby their couplings, said contact faces alternately engaging theirregistered control faces to restrain coasting of and to advance the tripdown the track section, and a dog mounted for retarded movement from anormal position upgrade from the haul toward said haul to a releaseposition by ca gement with a control face of an adjaccntly positionedar, retarded movement of said adjacently positioned car effecting theretarding of that portion of the trip upgrade from the retarding dog tocause a dog pair of the haul to advance that portion of the tripdowngrade from the retarding dog relatively to the remainder of the tripto hereby etect said maximum spacing between cars entering the trip.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

